“The attacks usually come from over there when they do come.” Atian pointed to the country east of Tenby.

  “You said earlier that it’s usually Darklings who attack you,” Yann suggested.

  Atian nodded. “Almost always.” He squinted at the instability in the distance. “I don’t know why they aren’t coming out now. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “The instability is moving away,” Vidal pointed out.

  “It never goes away,” Atian replied.

  “Have you suffered any landscape collapses?” Yvan asked. “I mean total collapses?”

  “Nothing like that. It happened to some neighboring towns. We don’t know why it hasn’t happened to us. We’re all just counting down the days and trying to enjoy the time we have left.”

  Yvan frowned to himself. “I wonder why not. Maybe it has something to do with the Voyant coming after this town.”

  “Why would he?” Yann asked. “These people aren’t magical. At least we had magic-users in Middleborough.”

  “If Eliska is right, then the Voyant doesn’t care if someone is a magic-user.” Yvan looked around. “Where is she?”

  “Who?” Atian asked.

  “Eliska—the girl who came in with us.” Yvan turned to Yann. “Did you see where she went?”

  “She was standing down there when we came up here. Maybe she went to see what Marine is doing.”

  “She should be here,” Yvan decided. “She knows more about the Coil than any of us. See? Look up there.”

  He pointed at the instability in the distance. The ever-shifting combinations of vegetation, soil eruptions, and landscape changes heaved into the air before sinking back into the earth.

  The transformations affected the air itself and rose higher into the sky. They changed the colors of the sky to vapor and merged with other Layers collapsing from above.

  They compressed on top of each other, burst apart, reformed, and collapsed again. Different landscapes revolved through the Layers.

  Some only gave brief glimpses into other worlds, other towns and cities, or landscapes morphing and transforming before they vanished into vapor Layers or disintegrated in chaos.

  “What could Eliska tell us about that?” Neils asked. “It isn’t anything we haven’t already seen.”

  “She might recognize some of those Layers,” Yvan replied. “She might be able to tell us where we are. We won’t lose anything by getting her opinion.”

  Just then, Niyazi got Yvan’s attention.

  Niyazi had been talking to one of the Tenby defenders and getting the man to explain his weapon to him.

  “Be careful where you point that,” Atian told him. “Don’t point it at anything until you’re ready to shoot.”

  “How does it work?” Yvan asked. “I’ve never seen a weapon like it before.”

  Atian’s eyes fell out of their sockets. “You haven’t?! You’re serious?!”

  “No, never. None of us have. What is it?”

  Atian shut his mouth with difficulty and took the weapon from Niyazi. “This one is a rifle. You load it with ammunition here—into this magazine. You pull the trigger here and it fires a projectile out through the barrel—here. These rockets work the same way.”

  Yvan raised his eyebrows. “That’s so complicated.”

  “It works. You should try it sometime.” Atian gave the weapon back to its owner. “You can hit them before they actually get onto the wall.”

  “What happens after they get onto the wall?” Yann asked. “Do you have any special weapons for fighting them hand to hand?”

  Atian made a face. “No, after that, it’s all down to blades, axes, and brute strength. Guns don’t help at all when that happens—but it’s better than nothing, I guess.” He narrowed his eyes at Anríq. “You look like you know how to handle a few Darklings.”

  “I was better when I had magic,” Anríq replied. “Now it’s down to brute strength like you said.”

  “Anríq is a good man to have with or without magic,” Yvan chimed in. “He won’t let you down.”

  “Well, we’ll be glad to have you,” Atian replied. “Any friend of the Black Watch is a friend of ours.”

  “I’m going to find Eliska,” Yvan announced. “You men stay here and man your posts. I’ll be back in a little while.”

  “What can she tell us that we don’t already know?” Atian asked. “We already know Tenby will fall as soon as the instability overtakes us.”

  “She spent decades surviving in the Coil. She’s forgotten more about the Coil than any of us will ever know. We’ll all be better off with her here than anywhere else.”

  Yvan climbed down the scaffold and set off walking through town. Atian waved to the Watchmen. “Follow me and I’ll assign you to your posts.”

  He walked down the wall assigning each man to a different spot. He assigned Rien, Niyazi, Neils, and Vidal in turn.

  Atian waited until the last to assign Yann and Anríq to a watchtower on the eastern side of town. The tower faced the instability.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Three Tenby men occupied the tower. One of them stood at the tower’s eastern window. He studied the instability through a pair of field glasses.

  The other two men stood at the two adjoining windows looking north and south. Both men held their weapons, but they didn’t pay as much attention to the surroundings as they should have.

  Atian gave them orders that Yann and Anríq would be joining them and for these men to show the boys the ropes. Then Atian left the five of them alone.

  The man at the north window turned around and nodded at the boys. “Good to meet you.”

  “Good to meet you, too,” Yann replied. “I’m Yann Dilnao. This is Anríq.”

  “I’m Americ Lanou. That’s Valer Alain and Rosh Orei.” Americ indicated the man across from him and lastly the man with the field glasses.

  Rosh didn’t turn around. He kept staring through the glasses at the instability in the distance. “It never comes any closer.”

  Yann looked over the man’s shoulder. “It actually looks like it’s moving farther away.”

  Rosh didn’t take his glasses down. “It doesn’t mean anything. It could sweep back on us any minute now.”

  “Why don’t the Darklings show themselves?” Valer asked. “They always came for us before.”

  “Atian says they’ve gotten as far as the walls before,” Yann repeated.

  Americ nodded. “We would have gotten eaten if not for our rockets. Our supplies will run out eventually and that will be it.”

  “Where do you get your supplies?” Yann asked. “How do you run this town if you’re so cut off from everything?”

  Americ opened his mouth to answer, but Valer interrupted. “If Atian didn’t tell you that, then we shouldn’t, either.”

  Yann shrugged it away. “Don’t tell me, then. It’s none of my business. We’ll defend you, either way.”

  Valer narrowed his eyes at Yann and then shot a glare at Anríq. “Why doesn’t he talk?”

  “He’s a Servant. He’s taken a vow of silence unless it’s strategically necessary for him to say something.”

  “Strategically necessary!” Valer snorted. “By then, it will be too late.”

  “It isn’t too late now, is it?” Yann pointed out. “He doesn’t need to tell you anything because I’m telling you.”

  Valer scowled at Anríq. “I don’t like having a Barbarian inside the walls.”

  “You’ll like it when the Darklings come.” Yann studied each man one after the other. Rosh still didn’t turn around. “Have you men lived here all your lives?”

  “Born and raised,” Americ asked. “Where did you come from?”

  “Middleborough,” Yann replied. “It was a town in another Layer, but the Layer collapsed and wiped out the town. I don’t know where Anríq is from.”

  “You mean it wasn’t strategically important?” Valer shot back and burst into loud, braying laughter.

  Yann only smiled at him. Anríq’s eyes twinkled watching Valer slap his thighs and wipe tears of laughter out of his eyes.

  “Good one,” Yann replied. “Would you know where it was if he told you the name?”

  “Probably not,” Valer replied. “In fact, I’m sure I wouldn’t. I don’t know one Layer from the other.” He slammed his hand on Anríq’s shoulder. “Come over here and sit down, boys. We aren’t on watch for a few minutes yet.”

  Yann didn’t know what he meant, but right at that moment, Rosh put down his glasses, turned around, handed them to Americ, and Americ took his place at the east window to keep watch on the instability.

  Rosh and Valer threw themselves down in two chairs sitting in the corner. The watchtower consisted of a room eight feet square with walls as high as a man’s waist.

  The top half of each wall stood open to the air so the men could see out in all directions.

  “Shouldn’t we be keeping watch?” Yann asked.

  “We are keeping watch. Americ will tell us if anything comes. Here. Take this.” Valer pulled open a wooden chest in the corner and took out a flat square slab of something wrapped in paper. He slapped the slab into Yann’s hand.

  “What is it?” Yann asked.

  “It’s chocolate,” Valer told him. “You eat it.”

  Yann frowned. “I’ve never heard of it. What does it taste like?”

  The defenders’ eyes fell out of their sockets. Americ actually took his field glasses down and turned around to gape at Yann. “You’ve never heard of chocolate?!”

  “No. Should I have?” Yann glanced at Anríq. “Have you ever heard of it?”

  Anríq shook his head.

  Americ clucked his tongue and turned back to surveying the landscape. “Now I’ve heard everything.”

  “Well, allow me to deflower your youth, my young friend.” Valer leaned forward, took the bar out of Yann’s hand, tore the paper wrapper off, and handed it back. “Eat it. Give some to your friend here, too. You need to seriously catch up on your education.”

  Yann turned the bar over in his hand and wrinkled his nose at it. “It looks disgusting. It looks like compressed manure.”

  The men exploded in laughter. Valer slapped his thighs again. “If you don’t eat it, I’ll know you’re both cowards. Eat it or I’ll have to tell Atian to assign you both to the laundry.”

  Yann and Anríq exchanged glances. Yann could just imagine how revolting this brown, rubbery mass would taste when he put it in his mouth.

  This must be some kind of initiation test the Tenby defenders inflicted on newcomers to make sure they had the backbone to really stand a post on the wall.

  The bar had been stamped with indented lines in the shape of a grid to form smaller squares. Yann snapped off two squares and handed one to Anríq.

  They exchanged one last glance. This chocolate stuff could be poison. These men might be trying to eliminate the outsiders to protect the town from something or other.

  Yann took a deep breath, put the square in his mouth, and bit down. A rush of delicious sweetness flooded his mouth and spread to his whole head.

  He actually froze with a mouthful of the chocolate as it started to melt. He swallowed. He’d never tasted anything so delicious.

  The Tenby defenders laughed themselves silly watching Yann and Anríq eat it.

  “What did I tell you?!” Valer crowed. “Maybe you’ll listen to me from now on.”

  “Thank you,” Yann mumbled around his mouthful. He tried to chew and swallow at the same time.

  The men wiped their eyes and settled back into their chairs. They took out some metal cans of some kind of beverage.

  The drink inside fizzed and snapped when the men tore the tops off the cans. Then both men settled back with their drinks.

  Valer raised his can to the two boys. “Congratulations. Consider your cherries popped.”

  “What does that mean?” Yann asked.

  The men burst out laughing again, but they didn’t explain what they meant.

  Yann broke the bar in half and gave Anríq his share. The boys ate it, and by the time they finished, Yvan returned.

  “What did Eliska say about the Layers?” Yann asked.

  “I can’t find her. She vanished.”

  Yann shot to his feet. “She couldn’t have. She must be somewhere. Let me go look for her.”

  “No, you and Anríq come with me.” Yvan shot a hard look at the Tenby men sitting there sipping their drinks. Yvan would never allow that kind of thing on his Watch.

  He turned away with a disgusted grimace and waved both boys out of the tower. “Atian is showing us a house where we can stay. Follow me and I’ll take you there.”

  Yvan led the way back down to the ground. Yann didn’t feel right about leaving the wall so soon, but Yvan and Atian must have come to some agreement about the Watchmen’s duties.

  Yvan showed the two boys to a modest house farther down the wall from the entrance gate. “Atian says no one is using this house, so we can stay here. The bedrooms are upstairs. We’ll have to pair up, so you two can share a room with each other.”

  Yann looked around at the main downstairs room. A bunch of machines he didn’t understand stood along one section of the wall with a counter between them and the seats and couches in the main living area.

  “What are we supposed to do while we’re here?” Yann asked.

  “I don’t know,” Yvan told him. “Try to relax and get some sleep. Maybe take a bath and clean your clothes. I don’t know. You’re old enough to figure it out.” He turned to leave.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to go look for Eliska?” Yann asked. “If something happened to her….”

  “Nothing happened to her, son. She’s hiding from us—or maybe she’s hiding from the townspeople.”

  Yann shut his mouth. Of course. He should have paid more attention when the Watch entered this town. Everyone had somewhere to go and something to do, but she didn’t.

  Yvan headed for the door. “Stay here. Don’t make me have to go looking for you, too.”

  End of Chapter 30.

  ? 2024 by Theo Mann

  I post new chapters of The Corrupted Coil series on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday PST.

  Don't want to wait to read the rest of the book? You can purchase the completed book, the whole The Corrupted Coil Series, and the rest of Theo ’Manns work at Theo Mann’s Amazon Author Page.

  Read Tales From the Coil: The Calling for free!

  Get these episodes delivered to your inbox before anyone else sees them. Find out how on Patreon at .

  Thank you for reading and thank you for your support!